Methods and Materials

METHODS AND MATERIALS FOR GIFTED LEARNERS 2014 -- COURSE SYLLABUS --

Course Objectives 1. To use the Five Steps of Reflective Practice for evaluating articles, Cases, and your own professional situations:  Issues  Perspectives  Knowledge  Actions  Consequences 2. To engage in collaboration, reflection, and dialogue through the use of discussion boards and journaling 3. To acknowledge the expanding influence and use of technology in the classroom. 4. To create materials for the classroom that incorporate the best methods and materials for gifted learners 5. To develop authentic assessments, including performance assessment tasks and rubrics appropriate for gifted learners 6. To create an online WebQuest for use in your classroom

Required Materials

CaseNEX: Cases and Virtual Library

Cases:  Enhancing Learning: Hatboro-Horsham High School  Boxed In  Breathing New Life Into Instruction  The Best and the Brightest

Resources: Teaching Tools For The 21 st Century by Carolyn Coil Differentiated Instructional Strategies by Gregory and Chapman (2nd Edition) Solving the Assessment Puzzle by Carolyn Coil and Dodie Merritt www.pd360.com www.gifteddekalb.com www.educationworld.com www.google.com www.teacherweb.com/tweb/twquest.aspx www.zunal.com

1 Course Requirements You must demonstrate that you have met or exceeded the following course requirements:

 Reading of Cases and Articles Participants are expected to read the assigned case and readings prior to participating in online discussions. Please use the Virtual Library or “ Check Out Reading ” link in each case to locate your readings for the week.

 Reflective Journals Prompts for reflective journals are included in the Syllabus. These reflections should draw on personal experiences, related readings, provided Cases, and the prompts provided by the facilitator. The Journal entries should not be summaries of the readings, but thoughtful, self-reflective responses to course material and the prompts provided. Reference in your Journal from the research found in the readings or videos to support your statements. Journal entries should reflect an effort by participants to deeply examine concepts and information from the readings, Cases, discussions, and their own teaching. Reflective Journals will only be read by the course facilitator and will not be accessible to other students in the class. There is a 25 minute “log off” feature in CaseNEX so please do your work in Microsoft Word. Then cut and paste it to your Journal. Also, please check spelling and grammar before you post any assignment. **In order to ensure that you will receive credit for your entries, please title each journal entry exactly as stated in each session.

 Participation in Weekly Online Discussions Class participation should go beyond responding to the prompts and questions posted by the facilitator. Since dialogue is an essential part of the Case methodology employed by this course, participants are expected to engage in an on-going process of reviewing and responding to comments and questions posed by the facilitator as well as classmates. Participants are encouraged to recognize their classmates as an important resource and pose questions and prompts to initiate dialogue of specific interest. In order to facilitate the on-going dialogue, participants are expected to log onto the group discussion at least three times each week (one original posting by Wednesday and two responses to classmates’ postings by Sunday of the given week). The class Discussion forum can be found by clicking on the ORANGE menu bar ("Discuss").

**** The ‘Discuss this Case’ link found within a specific Case is a ‘global’ discussion area where you can interact with students in other classes. For the purpose of your class discussion assignments, however, please use the orange menu bar. Also, answer each question with 3-4 good sentences within 1 original response only!

 Field Experiences/Portfolio

Field Experiences: During each of the four courses you will be completing Field Experiences which are practical applications of what you are studying. The paperwork you need will be linked to your CaseNEX website in the NewsFlash section so you can make a hard copy to complete and put into your Portfolio once the Field Experience is completed. Your facilitator will complete a Portfolio check of the Field Experiences twice a year. You 2 will keep hard copies of all Field Experiences for the four courses in a Portfolio which will be turned in to your facilitator in May.

Portfolio: The suggested type of Portfolio is a notebook which will accommodate all your four courses’ material. The first page of the Portfolio should be the Gifted Endorsement Portfolio Checklist which you received at our 1st face-to-face meeting.

 Assignment Deadlines In order to receive credit for this course, all assignments must be turned in by the deadline dates indicated for each session. The online week begins on Monday and runs through the following Sunday at midnight. All assignments are due on Sunday by midnight except for your original posting to the discussion board, which is due on Wednesday of the online week. If you accumulate 3 LATE assignments during a course (and you could have 3 within 1 week, possibly), you will be dropped from the course, and therefore from the Online Endorsement Program. It is your responsibility to contact your instructor if you have a personal emergency and cannot post your assignments on time. You must notify your instructor for additional considerations to be offered at the time of the issue.

 Final Project Create an online WebQuest to be used by gifted students. Use the article and websites given in Week 5 to assist you. You will create your WebQuest on the website www.zunal.com. It is a free website – all you need to do is register. If you have another website you would prefer to use to create your WebQuest, that will be fine, however; you must use the template from the www.zunal.com website. Your WebQuest should be ready for use, meaning all links should be “active”. The following items should be included: 1. Title, Grade Level, GPS, Your Name, 2-3 sentence brief description of WebQuest 2. Overall Aesthetics 3. Introduction 4. Task 5. Process 6. Resources 7. Evaluation

Your WebQuest is worth 50 points. Please check the Evaluation of Assignments page for the point breakdown and rubric. Please post a link to your WebQuest in the body of your journal and title the entry “ My WebQuest .”

Grading To receive credit for this course:  You must achieve a minimum of 80% in each area of the course – Discussion Board, Journal and Final Project. Please refer to the Evaluation page at the end of the Syllabus and the student checklist in the CaseNEX NewsFlash. Download and print the checklist so that you might keep up with your points during the course.

3 WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENTS: February 10th – February 16th

1. Read the Case “Enhancing Learning: Hatboro-Horsham High School”.

2. Article Readings:

- “Five Types of Digital Slam Dunk Digital Lessons”

- “More Fun Than a Barrel of Worms! Problem-Based Learning and Technology”

3. Discussion - Click on the "Discuss" button and respond to the facilitator's prompt. Remember to post an original response by Wednesday and to revisit the discussion during the week to read and respond to two of your classmates' postings.

 How is technology changing the students’ views of teaching and learning? (Perspective)

4. Journal – Post a 1- page response to the topic of using technology in our schools. Having read the case and articles this week, please answer the following questions:

1. What similarities and differences do you see between Hatboro Horsham and your school? 2. How might content drive technology choices? 3. What might be the short- term and long-term effects of increased technology integration on both students and teachers at your school? Please title the entry “Technology in Our Schools”.

WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENTS: February 17th – February 23rd

1. Read the Case “Boxed In”.

- “Authentic Assessment Toolbox”

- “Implementing Performance Assessment in the Classroom”

- Solving the Assessment Puzzle, Chapters 5, 8 & 9, pp. 49-58, 98-141

4  What changes could Pauline and her teammates make to their rubric to make it more useful, and to address the difficulties Pauline is having scoring her students' work? (Actions)

4. Journal - Target the unit you created/amended in your Workbook for “Curriculum and Strategies” course or one of its lessons to design a performance assessment task and related scoring rubric. Rubrics allow students to know in advance exactly what is required of them for a specific grade or score. There are many wonderful websites that will help you build rubrics. Use any resources to help you create this valuable tool. Please attach your rubric to your journal. Title the entry “Rubrics and Performance Assessment”. * This Journal assignment is worth 14 points and is a two week assignment due March 2, 2014.

Include the following items for this assignment:

A. Your name, school, a brief description of your students, including grade;

B. Objectives/GPS targeted;

C. Materials needed;

E. Teaching methods and strategies;

F. Classroom management strategies;

G. Student groupings (if applicable);

H. Students’ roles and expectations for the performance assessment task; and

I. Scoring rubric including creative elements.

5. Elluminate/Adobe – A recorded presentation link will be sent to you during the week. Please view the presentation regarding the final project, your WebQuest, and complete the corresponding Field Experience form. This form is located in the NewsFlash area of CaseNEX.

WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENTS: February 24th – March 2nd

1. Discussion – Click on the "Discuss" button and respond to the facilitator's prompt. Remember to post an original response by Wednesday and to revisit the discussion during the week to read and respond to two of your classmates' postings.

 How might teachers design rubrics and other assessment tools that are flexible enough to allow for different learning styles and personalities, yet structured enough to provide for student accountability? (Issues)

5 2. PD 360 – View the “Scoring Guides?” segment of Legacy: Assessments and Scoring Guides. Please watch either the Elementary or Secondary edition, whichever is appropriate.

3. Journal – Please complete the “Rubrics and Performance Assessment” assigned in Week Two.

WEEK 4 ASSIGNMENTS: March 3rd – March 9th

1. Read the case “Breathing New Life Into Instruction.”

 How does the use of lower-level instructional strategies (e.g., excessive drill and practice) impact higher-level learners?

 How does the use of appropriate instructional strategies affect the level of challenge for gifted learners? (One response that answers both aspects of the questions is fine). (Consequences)

- “Problem-Based Learning”

- “Questioning Techniques in the Gifted Classroom”

- “Teaching by Asking Instead of by Telling”

4. Journal –Create either a “Choice Board”/”Tic-Tac-Toe Board” for your Curriculum and Strategies course Unit or any Unit of your choice. See page 163 in the text, Differentiated Instructional Strategies for an example of a “Choice Board”. A similar instructional tool is known as a “Tic-Tac-Toe Board”. This allows the student to choose three of the projects on the “Choice Board” instead of one (depending on the objectives of the lesson). You may create either type of tool. Please title this entry either “Choice Board” or “Tic-Tac-Toe Board.”

5. Final Project - Have you begun your final project yet? Please read the article “Create a WebQuest: It’s Easier than You Think!” that can be found at www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech011.shtml or check out https://www.teacherweb.com/tweb/twquest.aspx.

Also, do a Google search for WebQuest – this will take you to lots of information and examples!

6 WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENTS: March 10th – March 16th

1. Read the Case “The Best and Brightest”

 Lisbeth’s read-aloud assignment assumes a great deal of student confidence. What might be the impact to this assignment on a more introverted or shy student? (Consequences)

- “Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate?”

- “The Teacher's Workshop: Differentiated Instruction for the Inclusive Middle and Secondary Classroom”

4. Journal - Read these two sections of Teaching Tools for the 21 st Century by Carolyn Coil:

 Questivities on pp.118-122, 144, 159, and 197  Tiered Lessons and Units on pp.178-183

Use the templates located on the CD that is located at the back of the book to create two lesson plans (one of each type). Choose topics for each of your lesson plans that will be beneficial to you and your students, but please do not use any topics from the textbook! Attach your work separately in two different Journal entries (each being worth 7 points). One should be titled “Questivities” and the other “Tiered Lesson”. “ Questivities” is due this Sunday, March 16th.

Tiered Lesson is due Sunday, March 23rd.

* Be sure to follow these steps in order to successfully post your entries:

a. In the Body area of your Journal, type “See attachment.” b. Click the Browse button to find your file on your computer so that you can pull it off. c. Indicate the File Type. You are given six choices, but your most likely choice will probably be Microsoft Word. d. You MUST put a File name in description box. You can type either “Questivities” or “Tiered Lesson”. Without a file name, your attachment will not be received. e. Click on “Post Entry”.

7 WEEK 6 ASSIGNMENTS: March 17th – March 23rd

 How might Lisbeth differentiate this read aloud assignment to accommodate the needs of different types of learners? (Consequences)

2. Journal – Please complete the Tiered Lesson assignment outlined in Week 5.

WEEK 7 ASSIGNMENTS: March 24th – March 30th

1. Final Project - Creating a WebQuest - Due Sunday, March 30th .

 Please refer to the Final Project section at the beginning of the Syllabus and also to Week 5 for detailed information regarding the requirements.

 In your Journal, post a link to your WebQuest. Title this Journal entry “My WebQuest”.

 Print out a copy of the WebQuest that you create for your Portfolio.

Please complete the online evaluation by Sunday, March 30th. Print out a copy of the final page for your Portfolio.

2. Field Experiences – Print Cover sheets and print Field Experiences form. Obtain signatures as needed.

8 Evaluation of Assignments for Methods and Materials Course

CaseNEX Discussion Area: 6 Original Postings + 12 Responses (24 Points)

Each original posting to a discussion question and two responses to other’s postings related to the question count up to 4 points. (2 points for original posting, 1 point for each response). The criteria for an original posting to a discussion question are as follows: 0 1 point 2 points No posting Minimal posting or late posting On-Time Developed/Accomplished Posting

The criteria for responses to other postings related to the discussion question are as follows: 0 1 point

No response or response posted late Quality response posted on time

CaseNEX Journal Area: 5 Postings (42 Points) *Week 2 is worth 14 points.

Journal postings involve responding to a question about an article or video journal. Journal postings will be evaluated based on a scoring rubric of 1 to 7.

Demonstrates very Demonstrates strong little information knowledge and detailed about the article understanding of the article and provides a and lacks correlation ______of this information to detailed response to the the question asked. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 question that correlates Beginning Developing Accomplished to the article information.

WEBQUEST Final Project: (50 points)

1. Overall Aesthetics = 10 pts. 2. Introduction = 4 pts. 3. Task =10 pts. 4. Process =12 pts. 5. Resources = 8 pts. 6. Evaluation = 6 pts.

Based on “A Rubric for Evaluating WebQuests” http://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquestrubric.html

Total Points for Methods and Materials course: 116 pts.

 Minimum acceptable average percentage in each area (Discussion, Journal Posting, Final Project) that must be earned for course credit: 80%